Monday, August 6, 2012

Peace and Freedom in the News: Barr/Sheehen for President

2012-08-15 "Lifting the Veil with Cindy Sheehan" by "LiftingVeils" [http://www.youtube.com/user/LiftingVeils]
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfRPZ58qEL4]:
Lifting the Veil is proud to welcome Cindy Sheehan! A prominent anti-war activist and voice for the people, and recently a vice presidential candidate running for office with Roseanne Barr! Coming soon!

"Roseanne Barr on CNN Piers Morgan TV Show Today" message from a Peace and Freedom Party member:
I watched Roseaane Barr interveiw today on CNN Piers Morgan TV show.
The segment began with film from the PFP Convention in LA last week.
Piers Morgan began the discussion with his first sentence introducing Roseanne as the PFP candidate.
This show is watched by millions - and likely the first time many of them ever heard of PFP.
So the visibility issue confirms the decision to have Roseanne be the PFP presidential candidate,
This program is repeated twice again tonight, so people can view the show to see how Roseanne did.
She was clear about stating she was a socialist and saw no difference between the Dems and Repubs.
Piers Morgan again mentioned the PFP name in another part of the interview.
And he invited her to come back to be on his tv show again in the future.
So - I think it was good - and I hope the people who answer the contacts on the PFP website will report the responses because of this tv show interview today.
I never heard what response was received when Roseanne was on The View TV Show and PFP was mentioned. I believe more may watch the Piers Morgan Show (that is repeated twice more) than watch The View.

2012-08-03 "Roseanne Barr takes new run at White House, joins up with Sheehan" by Lee Ross from "FoxNews.com"
[http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/08/03/roseanne-barr-takes-new-run-at-white-house-joins-up-with-sheehan/]:
Not quite ready to give up on her presidential ambitions, comedian Roseanne Barr is joining up with activist Cindy Sheehan for a new run at the White House.
Fox News has learned that over the past few days Barr asked Sheehan to join her in an attempt to win the little-known Peace and Freedom Party's line on the California ballot.
A party official told Fox News that Barr, who failed in her attempt earlier this year to win the Green Party nomination, has a "fairly high chance" of securing the spot after she again reached out to Peace and Freedom leaders several weeks ago. This was something her campaign explored months ago, but Green Party rules forbid crossover nominees so Barr abandoned that effort.
Now that the Green Party process has played out, Barr renewed her interest with the Peace and Freedom folks and was told she needed a running mate. Several days ago Cindy Sheehan, a party member who gained notoriety for her opposition to the Iraq war, agreed to join Barr.
Sheehan will speak Friday night on behalf of the ticket at the party's nomination convention. Barr will speak Saturday shortly before party leaders vote on their nominee.
Barr lost the Green Party nomination but has updated her website, roseanneforpresident2012.org, to reflect the change toward the Peace and Freedom nomination. "She is the lone voice of courage and reason who is unstoppable as she holds corporate-funded politicians feet to the fire," the page declares. In an interview with Fox News earlier this year, Barr talked about the difficulty of running for office.
This campaigning stuff is really grueling," she said. "If you didn't really believe in what you were doing, I don't know why you'd want to do it, you know."
Since the Peace and Freedom Party doesn't have a national presence the nominee from California is unlikely to appear on most November ballots elsewhere.
According to the party's website, it was founded in 1967 and advocates free education, abortion on demand and "is committed to socialism, democracy, ecology, feminism and racial equality."

2012-08-04 "Article that doesn't quite quote me, despite many tries" report from Kevin Akin, Chairperson of the California Peace and Freedom Party:
Here is the article resulting from my interview by someone from the
Daily Caller (out of Washington DC). It purports to quote me several
times, but he got it significantly wrong each time. A few other facts
are off, too. Everything they quote about other states is slightly
different from what I actually said.
I did not, in fact, say that "Barr's nomination looks fairly likely to
me at this point." I said something vaguely similar, but without saying
it was fairly likely, just that it was certainly a real possibility. I
carefully phrased everything I said, and I guess he merrily wrote down
his vague impressions of what he thought I said, and then cleaned those
quotes up a bit so they looked good, without worrying about just how
accurate they were. In other words, perfectly standard media treatment.
I am not going to try to correct him. Wouldn't it be silly to insist I
didn't predict Roseanne's nomination, and then have her get the
nomination immediately afterward? I just figure I should let comrades
know what is being said, accurately or not, by another news outlet. At
least they spelled our name right.
---
2012-08-03 "Roseanne Barr is running for president, again" [http://dailycaller.com/2012/08/03/roseanne-barr-is-running-for-president-again]
Actress Roseanne Barr announced Thursday that she is seeking the Peace
and Freedom Party’s nomination for president, with anti-war activist
Cindy Sheehan as her intended running mate.
Barr sought the Green Party’s nomination earlier this year, but lost to Massachusetts physician Jill Stein.
Her renewed candidacy, first reported by the Los Angeles Times, will
likely hurt the lesser-known Stein’s footing. Stein’s running mate is
also relatively unknown, unlike Sheehan, who became famous for
protesting the Iraq War outside President George W. Bush’s Texas ranch.
Kevin Akin, a spokesman and organizer for the Peace and Freedom Party,
informed The Daily Caller that the party will make its decision on
Saturday.
Barr’s nomination “looks fairly likely to me at this point, but I may be
wrong because there are so many people who are uncommitted,” said Akin.
“Thirty people are committed to one person or another and the rest are uncommitted, out of about 85 delegates,” said Akin.
Barr’s chances are likely buoyed by the fact that former Salt Lake City
Mayor Rocky Anderson, a former Democrat, informed party officials this
week that he was discontinuing his quest for the party’s nomination.
Founded in 1967, the Peace and Freedom Party is a relatively well-known,
but small, left-wing party. In 1968 its presidential candidate was
Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver.
Akin said the party will have ballot access in California, and likely in
Florida — where he said organizers have until Saturday to clinch ballot
listing ahead of November’s vote. He said the party’s nominee will
almost certainly appear on other states’ ballots via cross-listing by
other minor parties.
“Roseanne Barr, who seems to have considerale national attention, will
probably be able to get the nominations of several of those minor
parties,” Akin said, noting that Ralph Nader — the Green Party’s
candidate in 1996 and 2000 — ran as an independent in 2004 and 2008 and
appeared on many state ballots.
One distinction between the Green Party and the Peace and Freedom Party,
Akin explained, is that “the word ‘socialist’ is often attached to our
party and we don’t mind it one bit, [but] the Green Party typically
avoids it.”
The tagline on Barr’s candidate statement on the Peace and Freedom
Party’s website reads: “Socialism – it’s not just for Wall Street,
military contractors, or Congress anymore, but all Americans!”
In June, Barr told TheDC about her particular dislike of Republican
candidate Mitt Romney, joking about his Mormon faith and cautioning
voters against voting for someone “who thinks Jesus was hanging out with
the Indians and that the Romneys will be running their own planets in
the hereafter.”
Her bombastic style will likely be on full display until November if she
wins the Peace and Freedom Party nomination. On Obama, she previously
told TheDC, “If you press me, I suppose I’d have to say I find him less
odious than Robme.” However, she said, either would “cater to the big
moneyed interests that basically control everything.”
Barr’s Twitter account frequently attracts news coverage for the
incendiary political commentary she shares with followers. Earlier this
week she apologized after tweeting: “Anyone who eats Shit Fil-A deserves
to get the cancer that is sure to come from eating antibiotic filled
tortured chickens 4Christ.”
Stein may not be the only third-party candidate with something to worry
about. In July Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson
told TheDC he was glad that Barr — with whom he shares a handful of
anti-war and anti-authoritarian political positions — wouldn’t be “a
distraction” in the November election.

2012-08-06 "A New Option for LGBT Voters? Roseanne Barr Wins Presidential Nomination" by Lucas Grindley from "The Advocate" LGBTQ community newspaper for the San Francisco Bay Area [http://www.advocate.com/politics/election/2012/08/06/roseanne-barr-wins-presidential-nomination-and-gives-lgbt-voters-new]:
Giving voters yet another presidential candidate who favors marriage equality, Roseanne Barr won the nomination of the Peace and Freedom Party during its convention this weekend.
"I am the only serious comedian in this campaign," she joked during the convention. "Both of the others are clowns."
(See the clip here [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWhGX0j6h5Y])
The television star has long been an outspoken supporter of LGBT rights. She was named The Advocate's "Person of the Year" in 1994 and included in its "Heroes" list for successfully fighting producers and network executives to include some of television's first realistic portrayals of gay characters. She has two siblings who are gay and who have long been in relationships. Barr's sister and partner have been together for 25 years and have twin daughters. Her brother and partner of 26 years have grandchildren.
"They deserve every ounce of equality with any other Americans," Barr told The Advocate. "They are wonderful, productive human beings, and are the reason I am such an activist for LGBT issues and always will be."
Always the comedian, she added, "I just wish one of my relationships had lasted as long as theirs!"
While Barr is a long-shot to win the highest office in the United States, her name on the Peace and Freedom ticket combined with that of her vice presidential selection — peace activist Cindy Sheehan — is hoped to drive party membership, which will help ensure Peace and Freedom remains on ballots nationwide.
Last cycle, the party ran famed consumer advocate Ralph Nader. He was a former Green Party candidate, a nomination Barr had also sought but was beaten by Jill Stein — who also favors marriage equality.
Another third-party option for LGBT voters might be former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson, who favors marriage equality and is running on the Libertarian Party ticket after dropping out of the Republican Party's primary. President Obama, a Democrat, also favors marriage equality, while Republican Mitt Romney wants to outlaw it via an amenmdent to the U.S. Constitution.

2012-07-29 message from "Cindy Sheehan's MEGAPHONE"
[http://community.benchmarkemail.com/users/CindySheehan/newsletter/Roseanne-Barr-Cindy-Sheehan-2012]:
Dear Friend,
I am happy to announce that this email service gave me a discount to
return and I was also pleased to find out that the "open rate" for these
newsletters that I send out far exceed "industry standards" so I can
return to providing this newsletter which will now be called: THE
MEGAPHONE.
Thank you for all your messages of solidarity and support this month
since I felt the need to terminate my weekly newsletter...as always, I
appreciate your feedback.
Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox has had a pretty rotten year fundraising, but we
are squeaking by--if you are in the position to make a donation, we
appreciate it! The link is enclosed in this newsletter as well as
information for the radio show and other pertinent information.
I suppose the biggest news I have to relate is that Roseanne Barr is
seeking the nomination of the Peace and Freedom Party in California to
run for President of the USA and she has chosen me to be her running
mate! As a member of PFP and one committed to the ideas and ideals of
socialist revolution, I was thrilled to accept her request. I also love
Roseanne and you can listen to the interviews I have done with her over
the years here [http://cindysheehanssoapbox.blogspot.com/p/show-archives.html].
The press release announcing our candidacy can be read here [http://cindysheehanssoapbox.blogspot.com/2012/07/roseanne-barrcindy-sheehan-2012-press.html].
Although I am honored by this chance to have a bigger platform to talk
about all the things that I really care about and have been working so
hard for since my son was killed, I have no delusions about the
imperialist cystem that we live under. For third parties or independents
to truly have a chance, the Empire must collapse under its own weight
with some pushing by us.
From an historical perspective, the Empire will collapse, it's just a
matter of time and that's why alternative voices, plans and energy must
actively work for this. There is a better way but Mittrack Rombama won't
show us that way.
Peace & Love!
Cindy Sheehan
CindySheehansSoapbox@gmail.com